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Buffalo Dad: Face it, You’re going to have to Deal with Baby Weight!

Jason is our very own Buffalo Dad, and also one hell of a dad!!!!

Ok Buffalo Dads, Let’s start with the baby weight! Yes, that’s right, baby weight… You’re going to get it either in the form of weight and spare tire, or less muscle mass and spare tire (You’re not going to hide from the spare tire!). You can laugh, its OK, I’m sure there’s images of a pregnant Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie Junior dancing in your head. Wait, what? You’ve never seen this awesome 90s classic? (Check it out here) Obviously dudes aren’t carrying the child and adding weight that way and depending on if this is your first time to the rodeo or an encore that will determine when and how your “baby weight” may appear.

We had our first kid in 2011; I was 29 years old, and thanks to a mid-twenties life crisis of realizing I’m not 18 anymore sent me running back to the gym, probably put me in the best shape of my life. Now, there’s no way you’re going to mistake me for The Rock Dwayne Johnson and I’m definitely nowhere near being in the type of shape to be featured on the cover of Mens Health magazine. I’ve NEVER had a 6 pack (other than beer) in my life! However, I did have a 4 pack once, but it was only visible in soft white, incandescent lighting from a 40 watt bulb at night…But I was an average guy who looked “In shape”. I use to run 5ks, play basketball every Thursday morning at 5:30am and hit the gym 3 to 5 days a week. Then the kid was born and at some point sleep headed up the priority list and those things headed down! I quickly found I didn’t have the time nor energy to keep up with those routines and the proverbial rut formed quickly.

Now I’m a buffalo guy, I’m blue collar, I work with my hands, I believe in sweat equity and believe anything worth having is hard to get. I’m self-motivated and I’ll pretty much try to fix anything myself, even re-roofing my entire house by myself! So I’m not a slouch who’s married to the couch. I’m generally constantly doing something, but being a buffalo guy, of course I also love to eat Wings, Pizza, Beef on Weck and pretty much anything at Folletta’s restaurant. Being German I also love good beer though I now only drink beer from Ireland in the form of Guinness. With that type of diet the Gym wasn’t so much to get in shape, but to maintain the ability to eat 50 wings and large pizza in one sitting by myself! My PSA for the day: Make sure to stop doing this after you’re first kid or at the age of 30! Just saying, you’ll see!

Jason played in the Tonawanda vs. North Tonawanda Alumni Game. Which means he’s probably in good shape!

So how do you avoid the traps? First remember the 3 keys to preventing unwanted gains. They are Diet, Exercise, and water. Diet is pretty easy, just follow the food pyramid you learned 20 years ago in school. Eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, stay away from junk foods, carb over load and if you are working out make sure to increase your protein intake about 1 gram per pound of whatever weight you are trying to hit. Remember breakfast and lunch are the most important meals of the day. Try to eat well at each of those and smaller portions at dinner and have 3 snacks in between. Pretend you’re a Gremlin and try not to eat at all after 8pm. It’s important to try to keep dinner the smallest meal you eat unless you are super active at night. Your body burns during the day and stores at night as you tend to be less active after 5pm. The most important thing with any diet is know what the heck you are putting in your body! If you can’t pronounce a single ingredient put it down and run away. Make sure whatever you are buying is actually listed in the ingredients; for example blueberry snack bars better have blueberries in them not some strange lab concoction of that tastes like blueberry! Drink a lot of water and I mean a lot of water and only water. The only safe drinks out there are water and unsweetened Ice Tea, everything else is filled with sugar and high fructose corn syrup, which in your body turns to fat and also numerous health issues as you drown it in sugar. Stay away from anything that says DIET! It’s all junk and horrible for you. If you have to drink something other than water, cut it 50/50 with water to dilute it. It might be hard at first but it’s a good way to still enjoy those horrible drinks but with only ½ the garbage that’s in them. If you do indulge in snack foods live by the portions in the back of the bag. If it says X amount of whatever in 6 chips only eat 6 chips for the day. Like I said above, portion control is just as important as the food you are putting in your body.

I haven’t gotten to exercise yet, and I know you’re asking “So if you are telling me I won’t have time to do anything where am I finding time to exercise? Well look no farther that at that cute little bundle of heavenly joy you now have to carry around in that car seat everywhere you go. Guess what else you created? The perfect isometric workout tool! Between the baby and the car seat you are probably holding at least 20 pounds. Instead of buying a diaper bag, buy a backpack with lots of pockets and storage. The weight will be more centered on your back which is better for your lower back by not creating awkward strains on one side or another. It also provides a good exercise while walking the mall while pushing the stroller as you’ll come to find out the weight of the bag grows daily! Some tips on exercises you can do would be: When standing in line or even trying to quiet your baby do some bicep curls with the baby in the car seat. Pull the car seat straight up to work your shoulders and deltoids. Lock your core while just holding the car seat to one side then switch sides every 60 seconds for a nice isometric work out. Another nice core exercise while holding the baby on one side is to use only your core and lean to the side the baby is on, then slowly lean to the other side away from the baby (don’t life the seat with your arm at all, keep the elbow locked and only move your core) to work those pesky love handles! Do as many as you can on each side. You can also do squats and lunges while holding the baby. Instead of bouncing the baby if its cry trying doing a lunge or squat, it’ll have the same “bouncing” effect if you do it quickly you’ll get a nice lower body work out.

Well that’s it… There’s some kind of common sense advice on trying to keep that baby weight at bay until things settle back down… I’ll have a follow up to this for those who may be ready to hit the Gym or get back in shape and are looking for some advice, so stay tuned!

What do you want add? Questions? Comments? As always let me know what you think and follow me on twitter @buffalodad716 and remember being a Dad is like grilling a hamburger, everyone thinks they are the master and there’s are the best, but it’s what works for you that matters!

4 Comments on “Buffalo Dad: Face it, You’re going to have to Deal with Baby Weight!”

Where was this when I had my first?!?! Good advice…it is all about changing your mentality to be conscious of doing the little things to stay in shape. You end up feeding (pun intended) off those small things and it grows. Good article!

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